“I’d walk 10 miles on my hands and knees … I’d wrestle with a lion and a grizzly bear … I’d put out a burning building with a shovel and dirt and not even worry about getting hurt. Ain’t that tuff enuff.”

— Fabulous Thunderbirds

No more soft underbelly jellyfish.

When training camp and the long road back to the Super Bowl starts Thursday, the Broncos must get meaner, madder, more motivated and become the punishers, not the prey.

And not those marshmallow milquetoasts the Seattle Seahawks intimidated and decimated in the Super Bowl 169 days ago.

Seahawks middle linebacker Bobby Wagner re- ignited the embers the other day on ESPN when he contended the Broncos “looked afraid” at MetLife Stadium on Feb. 2. He was right. It was the Night of the Living Dread.

The Broncos will play the Seahawks in an Aug. 7 exhibition game in Denver, in a Sept. 21 regular- season game in Seattle and, if all goes exceedingly well for both teams, in the Feb. 1 Super Bowl in Glendale, Ariz. Tough times ahead.

Last season, the Broncos’ offense was a beautiful thing to watch. But, unlike in “King Kong,” in this version beast killed the beauty.

The Broncos’ hardest-hitting players last season were a 5-foot-9, 32-year-old slot receiver named Wesley and a rookie cornerback whose last name is on the dictionary cover.

Then, in March, the Broncos made “an investment in brutal nasty,” proclaimed DeMarcus Ware, who, with Aqib Talib and T.J. Ward, signed on.

In order for the Broncos to win another Super Bowl, they have to return to being the Rough Riders of 1997 — Steve Atwater, Bill Romanowski, Alfred Williams, Keith “Tractor” Traylor, Rod Smith, Tom Nalen, Gary Zimmerman, Terrell Davis and “The Helicopter” pilot John Elway.

The tone for the past Super Bowl really was established with 10:21 left in the first quarter when Peyton Manning flipped a pass to Demaryius Thomas on a crossing pattern, and strong safety Kam Chancellor slammed the receiver into the previous week and separated his shoulder. After that big hit, Wagner said, the Broncos didn’t want to cross the middle or run up the middle.

The Broncos’ Roberto Duran-like defense didn’t retaliate. Instead, during the second half, the Broncos’ defensive backs were caught on tape discussing which Seattle defensive player should win the MVP award.

The Broncos, as everyone knows, have been a finesse team on offense and defense for years. But, in the Super Bowl, the defense couldn’t make tackles and the offense didn’t break tackles.

Charmin vs. Sherman.

Ward, Ware and Talib are tough guys, but the Broncos demand more than three.

Beginning with Von Miller, who went from suspended to disabled last year. In between, he was an overweight, underachieving mollusk. Other than Terrance Knighton and Danny Trevathan, the defense was as spongy and squashy as a Nerf ball. And the offense, other than Wes Welker (who knocked Talib right out of the postseason), was as soft as a mother’s touch.

The Broncos’ offensive linemen, the wide receivers and the tight ends are all nice guys, but this isn’t a Rotary Club. The Broncos’ middle linebackers, defensive tackles and safeties are supposed to gnaw on railroad spikes and running backs rather than eat kale and garbanzo beans.

High draft picks Sly Williams and Derek Wolfe, and players such as Nate Irving and Montee Ball, Julius Thomas and Demaryius Thomas, Orlando Franklin and Chris Clark have to toughen up.

There are 10 legitimate Pro Bowl candidates on their roster, but the Broncos need a dozen players who strike fear rather than run scared.

Half the Broncos’ games will be against playoff teams from last season, and the first eight are a medieval race through the gantlet.

WASHINGTON — Thirty games into the 82-game NHL season, and nearly six weeks after the Matt Duchene trade, Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic discussed the state of his team before Tuesday’s 5-2 loss at the Washington Capitals.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The Rockies continued to bolster their bullpen Wednesday by agreeing to a contract to bring left-handed reliever Jake McGee back to Colorado. A major-league source confirmed the news, but the Rockies have not made the signing official.